


Matt and Vicki Accompany Jeremy to the Hospital

by luvtheheaven



Series: Family Comes First [3]
Category: Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: Brother-Sister Relationships, F/M, Friendship, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Orphans, Parent Death, Sibling Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-01-01
Updated: 2012-01-01
Packaged: 2018-01-18 00:49:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,153
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1408858
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/luvtheheaven/pseuds/luvtheheaven
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jeremy is home alone when he finds out that his parents and sister were all in a horrific car crash (yes, the one that really did happen in the canon of the show where Elena and Jeremy's parents died). I've written some flashbacks of Jeremy's last memories with each of his parents, and also what happens when he reunites with his sister at the hospital. Matt and Vicki are also siblings who bond with each other in this chapter, and both are also there for Jeremy in his moment of need. Matt is in love with and is still dating Elena at the time of this fic, per the canon of the show.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Matt and Vicki Accompany Jeremy to the Hospital

**Author's Note:**

> For the sake of my fic, Elena is at the end of her sophomore year of high school (10th grade) and is 15 – she'll turn 16 near the end of the summer. Jeremy is 1 year younger and is near the end of his freshman year (9th grade) and is about 1 year exactly younger, so 14, and he'll turn 15 maybe after the school year already starts. XD Matt is approximately the same age as Elena – probably already 16 though but in the same grade as her. And Vicki is one year older, so she's 17 and near the end of her junior year. This is all pretty irrelevant for this chapter, but if you want to picture the characters the same way I tried to when writing it, having their ages in mind can help.
> 
> The last episode that aired as of the time of me writing this was 3x09 "Homecoming". So that's as far as l I considered for continuity/backstory purposes.
> 
> Thanks again to WondaGal for beta-ing this 2nd installment in my "Family Comes First" series back in January 2012! :D Please, however, tell me if she & I both missed something and I'll fix it. ;)
> 
> If you have any questions, let me know. Otherwise, please enjoy! And don't forget to review. ;)

Jeremy was sitting on the couch, alone in the house that Saturday night playing a video game when the phone rang. He paused the game and answered it, never in a million years expecting what he was about to hear. It was someone telling him that his sister and parents were in a bad car accident and he needed to get down to the hospital immediately. He told them he would, then hung up, sort of in a daze, completely in shock, and unable to really register or comprehend what he'd just heard.

After a minute or so, he was able to at least partially start thinking again and he realized he needed to get to the hospital, but the car that Elena and his parents had been in was the only family car and besides he didn't have his full license yet, only a learner's permit. He needed to call someone and find someone to take him to the hospital. He tried to think of who was close by and who could drive already, and since there were no close relatives living in Mystic Falls, he immediately thought about Elena's friend Bonnie... or her boyfriend Matt. Matt's phone number was easier to remember and so without really thinking too hard he dialed the Donovan household.

"Hello?" Vicki answered, after looking at the caller ID. She figured it'd probably be Elena calling to talk to her boyfriend.

"Hi... um..." Jeremy trailed off, unsure of how to phrase his request, afraid to say what had happened aloud over the phone because that would make it more real and he'd actually have to think about it. "Can you or Matt... or both of you... just drive over here please?" Jeremy asked very quietly. "I need a ride."

"Jeremy?" Vicki asked, unsure. She was actually sober for once, she noted to herself mentally, so she knew that he hadn't introduced himself which was odd. Vicki didn't really know Elena's little brother at all; because of Matt, she'd had a few real interactions with Elena, but Jeremy she'd barely talked to once or twice before.

"Yeah, sorry," Jeremy answered. "I'm Jeremy, sorry please, just, I really need a ride." He was speaking without too much emotion but very quietly, and Vicki could tell something was wrong. She wasn't sure what though.

"Sure, I'll go get Matt and we'll come right over," Vicki answered, glad that her little brother was home since he knew Jeremy better than she did.

* * *

Jeremy sat back down on the couch and realized that his video game was still paused, but he couldn't will himself to actually go through the trouble of turning off the television and console. He just sat there, numb, waiting for Matt and Vicki to get there. He had no plan for what to tell them once they got there. He just waited there, trying not to think too much, staring way too intently at the flashing pattern on the pause screen. He couldn't help but start to think a bit. The man on the phone had sounded so somber, and Jeremy couldn't shake the feeling that they were probably all dead. He couldn't really imagine what that would mean though, if he really lost his entire family like that in just one car crash. He found himself confused and torn, feeling very grateful and lucky to have not been in the car with the rest of them, but also wishing he _had_ been there in the car. Maybe he could have prevented the crash. Maybe he could have done something to help them after the crash. If they were dead, all dead... Jeremy couldn't help but think, if only for a brief moment, that maybe it'd be better if he was dead along with them. He didn't think he could handle the grief of losing all three of them... he couldn't imagine continuing to live a long happy life without them.

His thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door, and so Jeremy got up and answered it.

"Hey, there," Matt said, looking concerned. "What's going on? Where do you need a ride to?" Jeremy stared at him for a second, and Matt could see the terror in his eyes. Jeremy seemed frozen, unable to answer. Vicki was still waiting in the car in the passenger's seat. "It's okay, man," Matt said gently, despite starting to get a bit scared himself. "You don't have to tell me any details, just tell me where to drive."

Jeremy nodded, beyond appreciative of how helpful Matt was being. "The hospital," he answered after a moment.

Matt's eyes widened; he was very worried now. He hoped Elena was okay, but with the way Jeremy was acting, he didn't dare ask. "Okay," Matt responded, gesturing that Jeremy could follow him out to the car. Jeremy got in the back seat behind Vicki while Matt resumed his driver's seat position. Matt started the engine. Vicki looked from her brother to Jeremy, confused and trying to read their faces. Both looked _so_ serious and somber and she'd never seen either boy acting quite like this before.

"Matty," she started quietly. "Did someone... die?" She practically whispered the last word. Matt kept his eyes on the road while he slowly shrugged his shoulders.

"I really don't know," he answered carefully. Vicki turned back to Jeremy to try to read his face, but Jeremy was staring out the side window. Vicki thought he seemed lost in thought – and he was.

Jeremy thought about his last moment with his family members. He'd said goodbye to all three of them as they'd left the house that evening, just a simple goodbye like so many other goodbyes. They had been leaving to go to some Founder's Day thing, Jeremy wasn't even sure what it was... just a planning meeting for something that Elena and their parents all were interested in but that Jeremy couldn't care less about. That had been the only reason Elena was with them and Jeremy wasn't. It all seemed so irrelevant now.

He kept thinking back to his last real, significant moment with each of them. He tried to remember what it had been for him and his dad. Grayson Gilbert was a doctor in a small town and so if someone was sick and wanted a check-up he even worked on Saturdays, such as he did early that morning. He had come home around 10:00 am and took off his spring jacket and sat down at the breakfast table, joining Jeremy. Elena and Miranda had still been upstairs, and so it was just the men of the house eating a late morning meal. Grayson had asked his son how school was going, and Jeremy had shrugged off the question. He'd then continued to question Jeremy, this time asking him if he had any crushes on any girls, which embarrassed poor Jeremy so very much. Jeremy swallowed his gulp of orange juice, then looked curiously at his dad and asked him a question instead in order to avoid answering.

"Who did you like in high school?" he asked somewhat jokingly. "Was there anyone significant you had a crush on before Mom?" Jeremy was genuinely interested to know, if his dad felt like answering. Grayson smiled and then thought about it for a moment.

"Well there was this one girl, Laura, who was really pretty – not as pretty as your mother though, of course," he clarified, causing Jeremy to laugh a bit and shake his head. "And she was my lab partner in Chemistry class. Unfortunately she had a boyfriend already. Donnie." Jeremy realized that his father said Donnie's name with what almost sounded like lingering resentment for the guy, even so many years later.

"What happened? Did she ever break up with him?" Jeremy had asked, curious to know how the story played out.

"Hmm," Grayson had replied. "You know, I don't remember. I think I must have just moved on eventually and stopped paying attention to who she was or wasn't dating. But I just remember having a crush on her in ninth or tenth grade, because I think she was my first real crush. So the feelings for me at the time were significant." He smiled fondly at his son. "Maybe you haven't felt quite that way about anyone yet. That's okay. You will," he said confidently and lovingly. "It'll be special when it does happen." Jeremy rolled his eyes.

"Whatever, Dad," he had replied. Thinking back on it now from the back of Matt's car, Jeremy realized it had been a very nice father/son moment, and he should have appreciated it a bit more at the time maybe. He wanted to tell his father how much he loved him. He hoped when he got to the hospital that his dad would be okay.

He continued thinking and thought back to his last real moment with his mother. She had been in her bedroom and had seen Jeremy leaving his to go downstairs when she'd called out and stopped him.

"Hey, Jeremy!" Miranda had yelled pleasantly Jeremy had been listening to his iPod but his mother had been loud enough that he couldn't really pretend not to have heard her without instead resigning to get yet _another_ lecture on how bad it was to hurt his ears with the volume of his music. So he pulled out one of his earbuds and hesitated.

"What is it, Mom?" he asked, trying not to sound too annoyed at being stopped in his tracks.

"Sweetheart, can you please come in here a second?"

"Yeah, sure," Jeremy replied, heading over to her. She handed him her bracelet.

"Could you please help me get this on?" she'd requested simply.

He took the two ends in his hands and with ease successfully helped his mother secure the piece of jewelry around her wrist. He'd had quite a bit of years of practice with the action between his sister and his mother always asking for help. They never were quite coordinated enough to do one-handed bracelet clasping.

"Thank you," she said, smiling at him. She kind of wished her son would join them tonight but she knew he didn't want to, so she didn't push the issue. She watched him just walk away, putting his earbud back in his ear and heading downstairs.

Jeremy stared at the trees that appeared to be disappearing behind him as Matt kept driving and remembered the moment. He realized that it too was pleasant enough; it was simple and not much to think about, very everyday and boring but sweet in a way. He hoped his mother would be okay too and he would be able to have many more nice little moments like that with her in the future.

He tried to think about his last moment with Elena but before he had a chance to remember what it was, the steady stream of trees changed – they were turning into the hospital parking lot.  
Jeremy looked back ahead out the windshield while Matt parked the car, and then all three of them exited the car. Jeremy led the way, following the signs with the arrows that were pointing toward the emergency room entrance. He walked up to the desk and Vicki and Matt stayed back, trying to be polite. They couldn't hear Jeremy over the sound of the busy waiting area when he asked which rooms contained his family members, but they saw him nod as the receptionist told him the room numbers. Jeremy turned back toward Matt and Vicki.

"You can follow me," he said simply, and then he went to the first trauma room, where his father was supposed to be. The Donovan siblings hung back as he looked through the doors and saw them using the electric paddles on his dad's heart, trying to get it to beat again. Jeremy sharply drew an intake of breath, horrified that his dad was doing so poorly. He closed his eyes, unable to really watch, and instead headed next door to where the receptionist had told him his mother would be.

His mom was just lying there. No one was working on her. No one was in the room. She looked... dead. This time Jeremy couldn't stop staring in complete shock. After what seemed like an eternity to Matt and Vicki, neither of whom were looking at any clocks, they finally headed over to join Jeremy as see what he saw. Matt's eyes widened and got a bit teary almost immediately when he saw Miranda Gilbert lying there like that. But he realized Jeremy needed him to not cry, and so he didn't. Silently taking a breath as he made the effort to keep his composure, he gently stepped in front of Jeremy in order to break his line of sight. Matt cautiously placed his hand on the boy's shoulder. He wasn't sure what to say to him. There were no words really. Not for this.

Out of Jeremy's peripheral vision he saw a doctor emerge from the room where they'd been working on his father. Jeremy blinked hard and took a moment to prepare himself, then walked determinedly over to the man.

"You were working on my father, Grayson Gilbert?" he asked, his voice only shaking a bit. The doctor looked at Jeremy sympathetically then bowed his head toward the ground.

"I'm really sorry about your parents," he told Jeremy. "We did everything we could do. Grayson was a friend and at one time a coworker of mine. I sincerely wished I could save him and his wife." Vicki and Matt had heard the horrible news despite being a few extra feet away. The doctor continued speaking. "You should go in and talk to your sister. She miraculously got out of the drowning car soon enough, and she is injured but she'll be fine. She's right over here," the doctor finished, gesturing toward a third new room. Vicki looked at Matt, very happy for his sake that his girlfriend was alive and was going to be okay. She saw the immense relief on his face and she smiled at him. He looked back on his sister and smiled back.

Jeremy headed toward the room and saw Elena. She had a cast on her leg and some cuts and bruises various places. She had a blank expression on her face, and it seemed clear that she'd already been told the news about her parents not making it. She didn't notice Jeremy walk in.

"Elena?" he said, trying to get her attention. She quickly turned toward him and smiled hugely, so grateful to see his face.

"Jer!" she said with a ton of emotion, her voice breaking a bit. He rushed over to her and embraced her tightly, hoping he wasn't hurting her. She hugged back equally hard and for a moment, everything was okay. They had each other, all was not lost. They felt more love for each other than they'd ever felt before during that hug, but eventually it had to end. As Jeremy slowly let go, they made eye contact and just slowly mutually realized just how much their lives had changed forever. Suddenly, Elena burst into tears, and grabbed at Jeremy shirt, begging him wordlessly to come back into an embrace again. He started to silently cry too as he hugged his sister who was sobbing hysterically. They were like that for a long while, just crying and holding each other.

Meanwhile, in the waiting room, Vicki and Matt were unsure of what to do. Their father was nonexistent in their lives and their mother as of lately had been almost as bad. They couldn't really relate to the level of love Jeremy and Elena had for both of their parents, but Matt loved Elena and his sister Vicki both so much and couldn't fathom ever losing either. He'd never lost anyone he loved like that before and he feared the day when he might have to. Vicki nudged him lightly.

"Matty, if you want to go talk to Elena, I'm sure she'd love to see you." She knew he was worried about her still, despite having overheard the doctor say she was going to be fine. He was worried for his girlfriend both mentally and physically, and Vicki hated seeing her brother worry so much. Matt nodded.

"Okay, I guess I'll head over there. Thanks, Vic," he added. He got up and went over to Elena's room. He stopped in the doorway when he saw the profuse tears streaming down her face as she hugged her brother tightly. He considered just escaping unnoticed, not wanting to interrupt the comforting, but by the time he'd thought that much, Elena had already noticed him. She pulled away from her brother and used her hand to wipe off her cheeks as much as possible.

"Matt," she said simply. He wasn't sure what to say. He just went over to them, awkwardly smiling meekly at Jeremy for a moment before turning to her. "Are you okay?" he asked, but the moment the words were out of his mouth he felt profoundly stupid. Of course she wasn't okay. Her parents had just died. Her puffy eyes were more than enough to show him just how not okay she was. "I'm sorry, I mean, I know... I meant," he stammered, trying to fix his mistake. She smiled understandingly.

"I know what you meant," she offered kindly. She glanced at Jeremy, trying to make it clear that she was telling this information to both of them, then continued, "I bruised my ribs a bit but the only thing broken is my leg. It's a simply fracture that should heal quickly, they said." She wanted to reassure the two boys who cared so deeply about her. Matt just stood there, nodding, while Jeremy's expression as he sat there on her bed was harder to read. "Really, guys, I'm fine," she insisted, hoping adding more conviction to her voice would convince them.

"I'm really glad," Jeremy replied sincerely and seriously, looking at her meaningfully. He couldn't imagine losing her too in addition to his parents. She understood just how much he meant it and went to hug him again. It did hurt her chest a tiny bit to keep hugging her brother like this, but every time it was worth the tiny bit of mere physical pain. This time the hug was more for Jeremy's benefit rather than hers.

"Don't worry, you're not going to ever lose me," she whispered. Matt watched them and felt for them so strongly. He wished he could do something more to help. None of them knew what was next in store for the Gilbert siblings – who would be their guardian, if they'd be able to stay in Mystic Falls even. But for that moment, at least they had each other.


End file.
